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Legere reeds and other synthetic

Author: musica
Date: 2025-03-09 17:52

Just wondering… Do synthetic reeds wear down mouthpiece tips faster than cane ?

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Re: Legere reeds and other synthetic

Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-03-09 21:35

First: I don't know.

Second: I'd be surprised, but not shocked, if there is a consensus here.

Third: If there is a consensus I have no idea if cane or non-cane reeds are seen as more abrasive.

Fourth: If there is in fact consensus on difference I would be surprised if that difference on wear and tear would be so large as to effect a large change to the financial cost of being a clarinet player that much in terms of need to reface or re-purchase a name brand mouthpiece played out of the box without modification.

I'm curious, but am of the opinion that choice of reed material should be about what does most for a player's ability to express themselves.

Conflict of interest: I normally play cane but have been known to swap in a Legere French cut on bad reed days.

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Re: Legere reeds and other synthetic

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2025-03-09 23:32

That's an interesting question. I've been using Legere exclusively for about ten years and (oddly for me) I've been using mostly one mouthpiece during that time. I can't say that I have noticed any wear at all. There is some dulling of the playing surface of the rails but I wouldn't call that wear per se. I do recall early on in my playing days I had used a Hite pretty consistently and thought enough of the "rounding" of the rails after a year or so to ask Hite to address this with a refacing. Now my sensibilities have changed over the years but I'd say that if I thought enough to ask about the facing then there must have been some appreciable wear. It would make sense that a more irregular surface that you get from a piece of wood should be more "abrasive." But there is NOTHING scientific or really that accurate when memory is the main component.

................Paul Aviles

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